1-to-1 Mentoring Blog

Sara Washington has served as a mentor for 8 months. Recently, we asked if she would share about her experience as a Mentor.


“You got to remember to stay away from the windows in this neighborhood”….

These were the first words my mentee spoke as she fastened her seatbelt. She was referring to the neighborhood shootings commonplace to many Chicago neighborhoods. What a stark difference from the farm town where I grew up. As she closed the passenger side door I hit the door lock button one more time partly as reflex and partly to dismantle the concern I had regarding her statement. I glanced through the frosty side view mirror and then we were off on our first outing during Christmas break.

My first year in Chicago was a difficult one. I had a great job which I was satisfied with but finding godly friends and a place of worship where I could feel at home started to feel nearly impossible. I began to feel disillusioned and lost in my new city. As the unsettled feeling of disappointment grew I decided it was time to do something about it. Perhaps if I got involved in something I was passionate about I’d meet other like-minded people and perhaps even make some new friends. Mentoring has always been something close to my heart. As a teenager I was the beneficiary of a group mentoring program for minority students sponsored by the Urban League of Pittsburgh. Although it provided a source of encouragement for students who were often financially disadvantaged and overlooked, it lacked a personal one-on-one touch. I was fortunate enough to do very well in school but I saw plenty of intelligent fellow students who simply fell through the cracks. They became distracted with the reality of life which was spinning all around them. I always thought that some of these students would have had a better chance to succeed if they were paired with a personal mentor who remained with them as they progressed through school. Although the group mentoring program I participated in was a noble cause, it wasn’t exactly an effective one. You can understand my joy when I heard about the One-to-One mentoring initiative through Circle Urban Ministries. I have been paired with my mentee for nearly 8 months now and it has been a very rewarding experience. I have learned to see life through my mentee’s eyes and in those eyes I’ve witnessed a resiliency and strength that is much to be admired. I have also learned how important it is to be a living testimony for this new generation of youth. She is that new hope for the future generation and through mentoring I am a catalyst. It is my prayer and my hope that my one-hour/week will serve as a seed that will enable her to grow and mature into the adult God wants her to be.